Jamaica, Queens

Jamaica, Queens is a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The United Provinces founded the town of Rustdorp in 1656, but the British would rename the town to "Jamaica" after the Lenape word for "beaver", Yameco (spelled "Jameco" in Dutch and pronounced with a "j" sound in English). In 1814, Jamaica became the first incorporated village on Long Island, and it would become a neighborhood of Queens when New York City was formed during the 1890s. Coincidentally, Jamaican immigrants would form a large community in Jamaica, Queens during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries,